Driver & Team Press Releases News‘Chubzilla’ Relieved To Depart With Top-10 Finish In 360 OTC World of Outlaws Late Model Series Season OpenerFeb 20, 2007 - updated Feb 20th, 2007 10:23amWeb posted by

Barberville, FL --

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:February 19, 2007

Chub Frank didn’t start off the 2007 schedule for the 360 OTC World of Outlaws Late Model Series quite the way he would have liked.

But the driver known as ‘Chubzilla’ will certainly accept his ultimate result in Saturday night’s tour season opener at Volusia Speedway Park rather than the scary alternative.

Chub, of Bear Lake, Pa., in his Lester Buildings, Corry Rubber, All Star Performance, Corry Laser, Slavic Corporation, Farr MotorSports, Lake Shore Paving, Custom Race Engines, Chevrolet Impala SS, Rocket Chassis #1* made a strong comeback from a heat-race accident to finish ninth in the 50-lap feature that kicked off the 360 OTC WoO LMS’s 2007 campaign, salvaging a night that could have put an early dent in his hopes for a first-ever tour title.

“We’re happy to get out of here with a top 10 after that disaster,” bottom-lined Chub, referring to the crash that sent him and his crew scrambling for the remainder of the night.

Indeed, Chub’s primary Lester Buildings/Corry Rubber Rocket No. 1* was sidelined in a multi-car tangle at the start of the evening’s second heat. His machine ended up slamming the turn-four inside wall backward.

“Them guys were all banging off each other,” remembered Chub. “I checked up for the 33 car and got in to him a little bit. We would’ve been O.K., but the guys behind me kept on the gas and spun me around.

“I hit the inside wall pretty hard, about flipped ‘er over. I don’t know if there’s that much damage, but it knocked the panhard bar mount off, so it was easier to just unload the other car because we were gonna have to take a provisional anyway.”

The car Chub and Co. rolled out of their hauler was a brand-new Rocket mount that had not yet circled a racetrack. It boasts a Chevy Impala SS body and “different front-end geometry and suspension,” as well as a paint scheme that will be visible on all Chub’s equipment for the remainder of the season.

After shaking down the Late Model at the back of a B-Main, Chub used a provisional spot (he was in line for one thanks to finishing third in last year’s 360 OTC WoO LMS point standings) to start 25th in the 27-car Florida DIRTcar Nationals A-Main. He cut through half the field in a matter of 10 laps, but he leveled off and settled for a ninth-place finish in the caution-free event.

“We went soft on tires on the left-rear to try and get up through the pack,” explained Chub. “It worked for us. I didn’t know the race was gonna go (all) green, but I don’t think we would’ve ever got up there where we did if we had hard tires.

“To get a top 10 out of that deal, we’re happy. We didn’t kill ourselves in the points in the first race, and now we’ll move on to the next race.”

The 360 OTC WoO LMS event closed out a successful Florida DIRTcar Nationals for Chub, who also scored top-five finishes in the week’s three UMP DIRTcar Racing Late Model features.

Chub started his Sunshine State action on Monday night (Feb. 12) by advancing from the 10th starting spot to place fourth in the 25-lap A-Main. He followed that up with a strong second-place finish to Shannon Babb in the Valentine’s Day 30-lapper on Wednesday night (from the ninth starting spot), and he won a heat and finished fifth in Friday night’s 40-lap headliner that ended UMP action for the week. (Tuesday night’s UMP show and Thursday night’s 360 OTC WoO LMS program were rained out.)

‘Chubzilla’ entered Saturday night’s 360 OTC WoO LMS program leading the Florida DIRTcar Nationals UMP Late Model point standings. But he fell short of the championship in the week-long points battle, which included the results of the 360 OTC WoO LMS opener because the UMP Hoosier 20/40 tire rule was in effect for the event.

Chub’s fellow 360 OTC WoO LMS regular, Josh Richards, nipped him for the Florida DIRTcar Nationals UMP Late Model points title on the strength of his win in Saturday night’s A-Main.

“I knew Josh had to beat me by three spots for the title, and he got the job done,” said Chub. “It would’ve been nice to win to pick up a little ‘free money’ at the end of the year (the points-fund cash will be paid out at the UMP Awards Banquet), but we’ll still get a little for where we finished.”

Chub couldn’t complain about his week of racing at the half-mile oval.

“We didn’t win a race, but we were good all week,” he said. “We moved forward – we never started on the front row and went backward, so I’m happy with that. Anytime you go forward, you gotta be happy.

“And I think we passed a lot of cars, so I’m happy about that too.”

After making the 1,000-plus-mile trek home to western Pennsylvania – where the deck of his house was awaiting his arrival to clear it of the foot-and-a-half of snow that fell while he was racing in Florida – Chub said his focus would shift to preparing for the ‘World of Outlaws March Through Dixie’ scheduled for March 23-25. The tour will visit Baton Rouge Raceway in Baker, La., on Fri., March 23; Columbus (Miss.) Speedway on Sat., March 24; and North Alabama Speedway in Tuscumbia, Ala., on Sun., March 25.

“We’re gonna go home and have a lot of work to do,” said Chub. “We’ll put the car that got crashed back together and run it at Baton Rouge with new colors, and we’ll bring the new one as a backup.”